Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Twenty

    "The friend I always saw you with..."

    "Kenya," she said.

    He nodded. "Right. Did you go to high school with her? You two seem pretty close, to have just met."

    "We grew up together," Tatiana told him. "I was like...a kid who was asthmatic, and she was like a breath of fresh air."

    The comparison brought a smile to his lips. After studying her for a few moments, he moved to stand beside her. Leaning back on the tree, he said, "Colorful choice of words."

    "It's the best way to describe it," Tatiana said. "I don't know where I'd be without her. I wouldn't know any slang words, for sure. Or maybe a couple, just from being in school. My sense of style would be a lot worse than it is now, if that's even possible. My knowledge of music would be limited. I...I wouldn't know you."

    He arched a glance at her, then lowered his gaze. Each of their arms rested at their sides. Her hand was approximately six inches away from his. It was so close, close enough that he could slide his hand just a little bit to the left, and it would touch hers. He didn't do that; he challenged himself, to see how long he could go without touching her. "I guess I should be thanking Kenya, then."

    "That was smooth, Mr. Graham."

    The conversation had been so pleasant, up to that point. He'd been getting to know more about her, and her friendship with Kenya. Their playful banter was still there...but those few words: Mr. Graham. A painful reminder that he shouldn't be standing next to her outside of a library at night, barely restraining himself from touching her hand.

    "Now who's slacking on the witty comebacks?"

    He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree trunk.

    "Did I say something wrong?"

    He looked at her, and immediately wished he hadn't.

    Her big brown eyes were on him. The moonlight shone in them, made them sparkle. They were inquisitive, imploring.

    No...you didn't say anything wrong. I'm just doing everything wrong. I'm setting a bad example. "You didn't say anything wrong."

    "But the tone of your voice changed. Something...changed, just now."

    "Hearing you call me 'Mr. Graham' just...it just..." He shrugged. "It reminded me of...who I am to you."

    "Oh."

    Silence hung between them. Thick. Palpable. Neither of them knowing what to say, but both of them wanting to break the silence. His hand still itching to touch hers, but common sense prevailing - for once.

    She ran a hand through her hair, then wrapped her arms around herself. "Can I be honest with you?"

    "What has ever stopped you from being brutally honest?" he asked her.

    She shrugged one shoulder, then looked away from him. "I wanted to meet you. I wanted to go inside the library and see whether or not I could even study while sitting next to you. But...it didn't feel right."

    There was the tiniest stab of pain in his heart, but he ducked his head down to hide any of the pain that might have shown on his face.

    After several moments, she touched his arm. "Kenya thinks that I should seduce you."

    He lifted his head and laughed outright.

    She laughed with him. "Never have I wanted to take her advice so badly," she said, looking him in the eyes.

    His laughter quieted. He met her gaze and couldn't keep the emotion from showing on his face.

    She took a step closer to him. "You make me nervous."

    His brows furrowed.

    "Not because you're my teacher," she clarified. "And not because you're Drake. For another reason I'm still trying to figure out, you make me nervous. When I'm around you..." She struggled to find the words.

    When you're around me, what?

    She smiled, almost to herself, and dropped her gaze. "You're like a breath of fresh air," she said. "Like Kenya is...but in an entirely different way. Earlier today in class...holding your hand felt wrong. It did. But...it also felt so right. Like at that exact moment, that is what I was supposed to do. Even though it was something I shouldn't have been doing...which...doesn't make any sense, I know."

    "I understand," he told her. "I feel the same way. What I'm doing does feel wrong, but it also feels right. In a way."

    "I had a bad feeling about meeting you in the library," she confessed. "Just...this nagging feeling that if I met you there, something bad would happen. The dean would pop up there, or someone would catch us flirting, or...I don't know. Something. Then you'd lose your job, and it would be all my fault."

    "It would have been my fault," he corrected her. "Not yours. I would take full responsibility."

    "It would make you look bad," she told him. "And that's the last thing I'd ever want to do. So... instead of meeting you, the way you wanted me to, I sat in my room. I sat there, wishing I could be in the library with you. While I was sitting there, explaining and re-explaining to Kenya why I couldn't meet with you, I realized something." She took another step closer to him.

    It was a struggle, focusing on what she was saying when she was standing this close. Only mere inches separated them. "What?" he managed to get out.

    "Just because we can't get to know each other now, doesn't mean we can't ever get to know each other," she said, grabbing one of his hands. "After this semester, or after the school year, maybe...we could...we could try..."

    See her three times a week and miraculously keep myself from touching her? Kissing her? The urge to kiss her right now was already so strong. "Of course."

    Her expression brightened. "Yeah?"

    "I'm a very patient man, Tatiana."

    "I'm patient, too," she told him.

    "But there's just one thing that I have to do, if we're going to try this waiting thing."

    She tilted her head to the side.

    He didn't think about it; if he'd paused toconsider the consequences of his actions for even the slightest of seconds, hemight chicken out. So he didn't think; he just acted. He slid his arm aroundher, pulled her close to him, and just as a gasp was leaving her lips, leanedhis head down so he could kiss her.